§ 26-23-303 — Definitions

(a) As used in this article:
(i) "Alien title insurer" means any title insurer
incorporated or organized under the laws of any foreign nation
or any province or territory thereof;
(ii) "Applicant" means a person, whether or not a
prospective insured, who applies to a title insurer or title
agent for a title insurance policy and who, at the time of the
application, is not a title agent;
(iii) "Approved attorney" means an attorney at law
who is not an agent or employee of a title insurer and whose
certification as to status of title a title insurer is willing
to accept as the basis for issuance of its title insurance
policy;
(iv) "Associate" means any:
(A) Business organized for profit in which a
producer of title business is a director, officer, partner,
employee or owner of five percent (5%) or more of the equity
capital thereof;
(B) Employee of a producer of title business;
(C) Franchisor or franchisee of a producer of
title business;
(D) Spouse, parent or child of a producer of
title business who is a natural person;
(E) Person, other than a natural person, that
controls, is controlled by or is under common control with a
producer of title business; or
(F) Person with whom a producer of title
business or any associate of such producer has any agreement,
arrangement or understanding, or pursues any course of conduct,
the purpose or substantial effect of which is to evade the
provisions of this article.
(v) "Charge" means any fee billed by a title agent or
title insurer or both for the performance of services, other
than fees that fall within the definition of premium in
paragraph (a)(xiv) of this section and includes but is not
limited to fees for document preparation, fees for the handling
of escrows, settlements or closings and fees for services
commenced but not completed. "Charge" does not include fees
collected by a title insurer or title agent in an escrow,
settlement or closing when the fees are limited to the amount
billed for services rendered by an entity independent of the
title insurer or title agent;
(vi) "Controlled business" means any portion of a
title insurer's or title agent's business of title insurance in
this state, referred to it by any producer of title business or
by any associate of such producer, if the producer of title
business, the associate, or both, have a financial interest in
the title insurer or title agent to which business is referred;
(vii) "Domestic title insurer" means a title insurer
organized under the laws of this state;
(viii) "Escrow, settlement or closing fee" means the
consideration for supervising the actual execution, delivery or
recording of transfer and lien documents and for disbursing
funds;
(ix) "Financial interest" means any interest that
entitles the holder in any manner to five percent (5%) or more
of the net profits or net worth of the entity in which the
interest is held;
(x) "Foreign title insurer" means any title insurer
organized under the laws of any other state of the United
States, the District of Columbia or any other jurisdiction of
the United States;
(xi) "Gross operating revenue" means all premiums
received by a title insurer or title agent;
(xii) "Net retained liability" means the total
liability retained by a title insurer for a single risk, after
taking into account the deduction for ceded liability, if any;
(xiii) "Person" means any natural person,
partnership, association, cooperative, corporation, trust or
other legal entity;
(xiv) "Premium" means fees for:
(A) Issuing a title insurance policy, including
any service charge administration fee for the issuance of a
title insurance policy;
(B) Abstracting, searching and examining title
when conducted or performed in contemplation of or in
conjunction with the issuance of a title insurance policy;
(C) Preparing or issuing preliminary reports,
property profiles, commitments, binders or like products;
(D) Assuming liability under a contract of
reinsurance.
(xv) "Producer of title business" or "producer" means
any person, including any officer, director or owner of five
percent (5%) or more of the equity or capital of any person
engaged in this state in the trade, business, occupation or
profession of:
(A) Buying or selling interests in real
property;
(B) Making loans secured by interests in real
property; or
(C) Acting as broker, agent, representative or
attorney of a person who buys or sells any interest in real
property or who lends or borrows money with such interest as
security.
(xvi) "Refer" means to direct or cause to be directed
or to exercise any power or influence over the direction of
title insurance business, whether or not the consent or approval
of any other person is sought or obtained with respect to the
referral;
(xvii) "Report", subject to the stated exceptions set
forth therein, issued prior to the issuance of a policy, means a
"preliminary report", "commitment", or "binder" and constitutes
a statement of the terms and conditions upon which the insurer
is willing to issue its policy but is not a title policy.
Neither a title policy nor a report issued prior to the issuance
of a title insurance policy is an abstract of title;
(xviii) "Single risk" means the insured amount of any
title insurance policy, except that if two (2) or more title
insurance policies are issued simultaneously covering different
estates in the same real property, "single risk" means the sum
of the insured amounts of all such title insurance policies. Any
title insurance policy insuring a mortgage interest a claim
payment under which reduces the insured amount of a fee or
leasehold title insurance policy shall be excluded in computing
the amount of a single risk to the extent that the insured
amount of the mortgagee title insurance policy does not exceed
the insured amount of the fee or leasehold title insurance
policy;
(xix) "Title agent" or "agent" means any person
authorized in writing by a title insurer to do any of the
following but does not include approved attorneys, officers or
employees of a title insurer:
(A) Solicit title insurance business;
(B) Collect premiums;
(C) Determine insurability in accordance with
underwriting rules and standards prescribed by the title
insurer; or
(D) Issue policies of the title insurer.
(xx) "Title insurance business" or "business of title
insurance" means:
(A) Issuing as insurer or offering to issue as
insurer a title insurance policy;
(B) Transacting or proposing to transact by a
title insurer or title agent any of the following activities
when conducted or performed in contemplation of the issuance of
a title insurance policy:
(I) Soliciting or negotiating the issuance
of a title insurance policy;
(II) Guaranteeing, warranting or otherwise
insuring the correctness of title searches;
(III) Handling of escrows, settlements or
closings;
(IV) Execution of title insurance policies;
(V) Effecting contracts of reinsurance;
(VI) Abstracting, searching or examining
titles; or
(VII) Doing or proposing to do any business
in substance equivalent to any of the businesses specified in
subdivisions (I) through (VI) of this subparagraph in a manner
designed to evade the provisions of this article.
(xxi) "Title insurance policy" or "policy" means a
contract wherein, subject to the stated terms and conditions, a
title insurer insures, guarantees or indemnifies owners of real
or personal property or the holders of liens or encumbrances
thereon or others interested therein against loss or damage
suffered by reason of:
(A) Defects in, adverse claims, liens or
encumbrances in the title to the stated property;
(B) Unmarketability of the title to the stated
property;
(C) Guaranteeing, warranting or otherwise
insuring by a title insurance company the correctness of
searches relating to the title to property;
(D) Defects in the authorization, execution or
delivery of an encumbrance upon such property;
(E) The insuring by a title insurance company
the validity and enforceability of evidences of indebtedness
secured by an encumbrance upon the title or interest in such
property;
(F) The invalidity, unenforceability or loss of
priority of an insured mortgage resulting from a change in rate
of interest or principal balance, or both, which change is in
accordance with the provisions of the insured mortgage.
(xxii) "Title insurer" or "insurer" means a company
organized under laws of this state for the purpose of
transacting as insurer the business of title insurance and any
foreign or alien title insurer engaged in this state in the
business of title insurance as insurer;
(xxiii) "Title plant" means a set of records in which
an entry has been made of documents or matters imparting
constructive notice under the law of matters affecting title to
real property or any interest therein or encumbrance thereon,
which have been filed or recorded in the jurisdiction for which
the title plant is maintained.